


Keep in Touch

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Dimension-Hopping Rose, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Immortal Rose Tyler, Jack Dies A Lot, M/M, Rose Tyler Loves the Doctor, Temporary Character Death - Jack Harkness, The Doctor Loves Rose Tyler, Time Travel, don't worry about it though, i wasn't exactly sure how to end this so it gets a little bit weird, technically Jack Rose and the Doctor all die permanently
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22554973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Every time Jack dies, he sees Rose, and they help support each other over the years.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness & Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler, Thirteenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Twelfth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 16
Kudos: 311





	Keep in Touch

The first time Jack had died, on the Game Station at the hands (plungers?) of the Daleks, it had been different. It hadn’t even felt like he was dead, just standing his ground one moment, and getting up off the floor the next. He’d run to find the Doctor, but the bastard took off without him, and Jack was too peeved to think much about what had happened to him.

It wasn’t until the next time he died that he knew he was dead. He was shot right in the heart, which seemed to be something of a dead giveaway (pun intended). When he opened his eyes, though, he wasn’t on Ellis Island anymore. Instead, he found himself in what appeared to be the console room of the TARDIS. 

He started to get excited at the thought that maybe the Doctor had somehow come back for him after all, and figured out a way to save him. Then he heard a familiar voice, and he whirled around. “We’re not really here, unfortunately.” Rose gave him an apologetic look. “That’s what I thought too, the first time I was here. But this isn’t quite real, or at least not in the way we want it to be.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Rose had been in one of his dreams (though he’d never dared admit to such a thing out loud, for fear of the Doctor’s wrath), but something about her didn’t seem dream-like at all. He rushed over to give her a hug, which she eagerly returned, and they clung to each other for a few seconds longer than the average hug before pulling apart. “The Doctor said he took you home.” He looked at her, and waited for her to explain everything. Of course he knew her well enough to know she never would have willingly abandoned them. 

Rose sighed, and leaned back against the console. “Yeah. He did, but I found my way back. The Doctor told me you were busy rebuilding the Earth, but I always just assumed it was his way of avoiding telling me that you’d died.”

Jack grimaced. “Well, I don’t know how he’d know, but…”

Rose arched one eyebrow. “You’re serious? You died? Then how’re you-”

“Hell if I know. Is it really so crazy to believe, after all the things you’ve seen?”

She thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head. “No, I suppose that it’s not. Well, I’m sorry you had to go through that, then. So where do you-”

But whatever Rose was going to ask got cut off as Jack suddenly found himself opening his eyes and sitting up. He was back on Ellis island, and there was a hole in his jacket, and he could feel the tacky half-dried blood stick to him as he sat up. “Oh.” So he really had died- or something. And somehow he’d seen Rose? None of it made any sense, but Jack didn’t know what he could do besides just keep moving forward, so he did.  
,,,

Every time Jack died, he saw Rose again. She never looked like she got any older, even after a hundred years had passed, but Jack knew that she’d been living for just as long as he had. It was about a certain look in her eyes as she slowly grew wiser to the world. 

Each time they saw each other, Rose would give him a big grin and would rush forward and they would give each other a big hug. The amount of time they had together always varied, and as far as Jack could tell, it seemed to depend on how exactly he had died. The more violent and destructive deaths tended to give him more time, though even that wasn’t a guarantee.

Even though Jack knew that Rose was always pleased to see him, he couldn’t help noticing the sadness that lurked behind her eyes. He was too afraid to ask her what made her so sad, though. Because whatever it was, he couldn’t imagine that it was anything even close to pleasant.

After Jack got electrocuted by an alien, he found himself grumbling to Rose about how he wouldn’t have been so clumsy if it hadn’t been for the extra tight shirt Ianto had been wearing. Rose just laughed at him (like he knew she would). Then he took a moment to look at her carefully, and Jack realized that something was different. 

He had no idea what Rose did when she wasn’t here in this weird dream version of the TARDIS because she always refused to talk about it (even when Jack spilled every detail of his life), but he knew that at least within this space, little ever changed.

But this time, there was a jacket draped over the railing (a jacket that Jack didn’t recognize), and Rose was wearing a blue leather jacket that he’d never seen before (because Jack definitely would have made some kind of sleazy comment if he’d seen it on her). “What’s changed?”

Rose twisted her hands anxiously in front of her, and then let out a long sigh. “It’s complicated, and I’m not sure how much is safe to tell you without everything getting all messed up, but- I’m looking for the Doctor.”

Jack knew that he didn’t do a very good job at keeping the look of surprise off of his face. “What? Did you get lost?”

She sighed. “Something like that. But it’s not some recent development. The Doctor and I got separated a long time ago, about a year after everything on the Game Station. I got trapped in a different universe, and the Doctor said that it would be impossible to ever travel between them again. But something really bad is happening, and I know that if anyone can fix it, he can, so now I’m looking for him.”

She gave him that stubborn look of hers that had had him half in love from the day they’d met. “Rosie, it’s been over a hundred years for me, and I get the feeling that it’s been that long for you. Don’t forget that I know you; you’d never just give up. Why are you only looking for him now?”

Rose crossed her arms over her chest, and looked up at the ceiling, as if she could get some answers from the roof (and maybe if they were on the real TARDIS, Jack might think that that was actually possible). “Of course I’ve missed him more than anything all this time. But it hasn’t been all bad here. I’ve got more family than I ever had before.”

Jack narrowed his eyes, and took a few steps closer to Rose. He was tall enough that he could look down and meet her eyes without any effort. “That’s wonderful, and I’m very happy for you. Now tell me the real reason that you haven’t looked for him sooner.”

There was a brief pause, and then Rose’s shoulders slumped down, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “I said we got separated, and that’s true, but it’s not as simple as that. The Doctor sent me away. Intentionally. He wanted me to go, just like he wanted me to go at the Game Station. Twice he sent me away, and twice I returned to him, but even if I hadn’t fallen, I don’t know that he’d want me around. A bloke doesn’t try that hard to get rid of someone if they want that someone around.” 

Jack scowled at the thought of the Doctor sending Rose away. It had hurt- a lot- when Jack had realized that he’d been left behind, but even then, it had never even occurred to him that the Doctor would try to get rid of Rose too. Not when he always looked at her like she was the most amazing person in the world. “Rose, I know I don’t really understand what you’re going through, but you know that I’m here if you need to talk, right? Maybe I could even-”

But then he woke up, and Jack scowled to himself as he emerged from the lake and gasped in some fresh air. For a moment, he considered just ducking back under and waiting until everything slipped away and he could see Rose again, but then he shook that thought aside. If he crossed that kind of line, it would be all too easy to cross it again in the future. He would just have to wait until his next untimely death.  
,,,

When the ghostly figures started appearing all over the world, Jack assumed that the Doctor must be involved, or would get involved at some point. He waited around Rose’s place, and hoped the Doctor would arrive eventually. Jack knew that it was dangerous to be here at this time, since asking around had revealed that Rose was out ‘traveling with a mate’, which meant she’d already gone off with the Doctor. But if he wanted any chance of finding either of them, this seemed like his best bet.

In the end, though, Jack missed his chance. If the TARDIS had landed anywhere nearby, Jack must have just missed it. The ghosts all turned into Cybermen, but it wasn’t long before they were all whisked through the air, and off into the distance. 

The following few weeks were a disaster, as people everywhere posted about their missing loved ones in the hopes of finding them. Eventually, an official list of the dead was published, and Jack froze when he saw Jackie Tyler and Rose Tyler on it. 

Jack didn’t care that he was in public, he sank down to the ground and started to cry. Screw this stupid universe for trying to take everything away from him (and succeeding). 

He had to stand up eventually, though, and he had to figure out what he was going to do next. It seemed pointless to keep searching for the Doctor. If the Doctor hadn’t wanted him before, he certainly wouldn’t want Jack now that Rose was dead. 

Torchwood needed a new person standing at the reigns, and Jack decided to take on that responsibility. At least it gave him a purpose, a reason to think that it was good that he was still alive (still had to be alive). At least it was something.  
,,,

The last thing Jack expected was for him to see Rose again, after yet another death. He stared at her with wide eyes, and then rushed over to pull her into a tight hug. “Rosie, you’re here!” 

“Where else would I be?”

He pulled back enough to look at her, taking in every detail like he would never be able to see her again. She was still wearing that leather jacket that she’d had on for what seemed to be the past few decades. “Have you- have you been to Canary Wharf yet?” One of the complicated parts of time travel made it so difficult to know what other time travelers had already done.

A look of sympathy appeared on Rose’s face. “Yeah. Guess you saw the list of the dead, huh? Well, I’m not. I’m still here. I’ll always be here for you.” 

When Jack woke up after that, he resolved to search even harder for the Doctor. If not for himself, then for Rose, who deserved to get her happy ending.  
,,,

Jack hadn’t expected to actually catch sight of that elusive blue police box, but as soon as he saw it, he grinned. “Doctor!” He ran towards the TARDIS, hoping desperately that this was a Doctor that already knew Jack and had been through all of their previous adventures together. Jack had already had a few close calls with younger Doctors who didn’t know him, all of whom promised to lock away their memories so that they wouldn’t spoil their own future. And since Jack was pretty sure the Doctor hadn’t recognized him when they’d first met during the Blitz, he figured that it had worked.

Unfortunately, either the Doctor couldn’t hear Jack calling out to him, or- more likely- he had heard and was fleeing anyways. It’s not like Jack couldn’t take a hint when he’d been ditched a couple hundred thousand years in the future. But Jack was determined to find the Doctor, so he grabbed on tight to the TARDIS, and hoped that dying in space wouldn’t cause him to lose his grip.

They ended up at the end of the universe, and it wasn’t too bad, at first. When he asked about Rose, the Doctor looked completely frozen for a moment before he said that Rose was living happily with her family in a different universe. And it was such bullshit, since Jack knew how unhappy Rose was, no matter how much she loved her family, and he had to wonder if the Doctor thought that it was bullshit too.   
,,,

During his time in captivity to the Master, Jack saw Rose a lot, and he could see how worried she was about him. Every time he showed up in that pseudo TARDIS, she used up their limited time together fussing over him, even though he was fine (he was always fine). He didn’t tell her that she’d been the one to do this to him (half afraid that she already knew, and half afraid that she had no idea). The time that they had together was enough for him to realize that he forgave her for it, though. How could he truly be angry that Rose Tyler had seen him as someone worth saving?

After what felt like his thousandth execution, Jack found that he felt exhausted even in the dream TARDIS, which was strange because he couldn’t remember ever feeling any kind of physical ailment in there before. Rose just gave him a hug, and then fluttered her hands around like she was looking for an injury that she could patch up. “Jack, this is literally the hundredth time that you’ve been here in the past three weeks. What the hell is going on?”

Jack let out a long sigh, and then he told her everything. It felt inevitable that she knew about all of it, since he told her about pretty much everything else in his life (even though getting information about her life was like pulling teeth pretty much every time). 

Once he finished his explanation, he sank down onto the jumpseat, and Rose sat down next to him, bumping their shoulders together. “I’m sorry that all of you have been through so much. And poor Martha, out there on her own.” They sat there in silence for a few seconds, and then Rose let out a bitter sounding laugh. “I know that I shouldn’t be making this about me, but I can’t help but… well the Doctor’s not alone anymore. And knowing him, he’ll figure out a way to fix things and have his old friend back, and it’s kinda proof, you know? Once when he’d been sad about being alone I told him that he had me, but now he doesn’t have me and he’s still not alone. Even without the Master he’s got you and Martha and probably a million other people all over the universe who love him.”

Jack twisted in the seat so that he could get a better look at Rose. “I know you two were always dancing around each other, but did you ever tell him that you l-” Then he woke up, and forced himself to give his captors a charming grin. “Oh that was nothing, I could do this all day, fellas.”  
,,,

After everything, Jack could tell that even though the Doctor was sorry for ditching him, he didn’t want to travel with him. And that was fine, since Jack had other people to worry about anyways. He’d only been so eager to track the Doctor down for one specific reason, though as they prepared to say their farewells, Jack couldn’t help but wonder if it was a good idea. Rose had never told him not to talk to the Doctor about what he sees when he dies, but what if it messed up all of time or something? 

But if it was for Rose, then he needed to at least try, didn’t he? “Doctor, you know how you said that Rose is in a different universe and there’s no way to communicate with her?” The Doctor gave him a pained look that said he could never forget such a thing. Jack took a deep breath in, then slowly let it out. “I’ve seen her. More times than I can even count. Every time I die, I see her.”

The Doctor frowned. “Jack-”

Jack shook his head, already predicting what the Doctor would say. “And I’m not just seeing her because I want to; I know that it’s really her. She’s searching for you right now, Doctor. There’s something going on in her universe that has her worried, and she’s been jumping around because she’s sure that you’re the one who can fix everything.”

The Doctor clenched his jaw. “The walls between the universes are sealed,” he said through gritted teeth. “Even if you could somehow communicate with her, which might somehow be possible since she’s the one who did this to you in the first place, there’s no way to physically travel through.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “You should never say that anything is impossible, because you usually end up being wrong. And if anyone could figure out how to beat the odds through sheer stubbornness if nothing else, it would be Rose.” When the Doctor didn’t say anything else, and Martha just looked back and forth between them with wide eyes, Jack sighed. “Fine. Well, on the off chance that I might actually be telling the truth, is there anything you want me to tell her when I see her next.”

“Just that I-” the Doctor started to blurt, but then he cut himself off and slowly shook his head. “No, no I can’t- she’s gone, Jack, don’t you understand that? And I can’t-”

Jack held up one hand. “I get it. I think you’re an idiot, but I understand. I’ll just let you tell her everything you need to say in person. Because you haven’t seen the last of Rose Tyler, I can promise you that much.”  
,,,

Time passed, Jack found himself with a bad case of the feelings, Torchwood under Jack continued to run smoothly (for the most part), and he continued to confide in Rose about everything. Maybe it wasn’t the life that he had ever pictured for himself, but it was not a terrible life.

After being alive for so long, Jack had fallen into something of a routine, which is why he was so shocked when something broke it. He died again (some stupid car accident, of all things), and he still went to that dream version of the TARDIS, but there was no one else there. “Rose?” Nobody answered.

It took him a moment to realize that there was a post-it note stuck to the back of the jumpseat, and all it said was, ‘I did it’.  
,,,

When Jack saw Rose again, he wasn’t even dead (or at least he was pretty sure he wasn’t, even if having three Doctors around did sound like something out of his dreams). They hugged tightly, and she was wearing the same jacket that she had been for years, but he still had to be sure. Now that he could see her for real, he felt just the tiniest bit of doubt about all the other times he’d seen her. “I knew you could do it,” he said softly.

Rose grinned at him. “Your encouragement over the years certainly helped.”

Jack glanced around, but the Doctor was still busy yelling at himself, so Jack knew he still had at least a little bit of time for this private conversation with Rose. “Did time work the same way for you? I mean, I’ve been seeing you for a really, really long time.”

She gave him a sad look, and then pulled him in for another hug. She raised herself onto her tiptoes so that she could whisper in his ear. “You’re not the only one who was changed by Bad Wolf.”   
,,,

Jack let himself be dropped off, even though part of him wanted to insist on staying. But he had a lot waiting for him at home (including the lovely Ianto), so he left, and took Martha with him. It was a bit of a surprise when Mickey ran to catch up, but Jack figured he could find a place for Mickey too. When they heard the familiar sounds of the TARDIS leaving, Jack had to resist the urge to look back. He knew that he’d see Rose again, one way or another. And he was sure that he’d see the Doctor again too (though he had the feeling that that one might be a bit of a longer wait).   
,,,

Maybe Jack was crazy, considering how much he valued his beautiful face, but he wished that he could look even half as old as he felt sometimes. It would make things so much easier for him.

As he tipped back another glass of scotch (he’d lost track of what number ages ago), some of the papers were blown off his desk, and then the TARDIS appeared in front of him, without any of the usual wheezing noises. The door popped open, and Rose skipped towards him. He set the glass down on his desk so that he could hug her without spilling booze all down her back. “Rosie!” 

“Sorry it’s taken so long to come visit. In person, I mean.” Even now, pretty much every time Jack died, Rose was there waiting for him (though sometimes he would just find a note from her instead). “The Doctor’s a stubborn one, you know how he is.”

Jack laughed. “Yeah, I know. So did you two work everything out? Talk about your feelings like grown ups?”

Rose nodded, a faint blush on her cheeks. “Yeah, things have been good. Though he did try to ditch me back in the other universe with the human version of him. The daft idiot probably would have gone through with it, too, if I hadn’t managed to explain that my timeline matches the Time Lord much better than it does the human. I think he was afraid to believe me at first, but we’ve been getting back into the groove of things. Oh, and now we have Amy! She’s wonderful, and never takes any crap from the Doctor, which is great. And her husband Rory, is a nice breath of fresh air to break up the constant mania around our spouses.”

Jack offered what he hoped was a congratulatory smile at the news. He’d always known that Rose and the Doctor would end up together, even if the two of them had seemed entirely oblivious to that fact for far too long. “Sounds like everything’s going your way. So what are you doing here when you could be out exploring the stars?”

Rose gave him a knowing look, and then another hug. “I brought you a present,” she said softly. “The Doctor taught me to drive the TARDIS, and I have a good enough time sense to know when it’s possible to change things, so I’ve just…” she glanced back to the still open door of the time machine. “Hey, get out here!”

Jack expected to see the Doctor saunter out, but instead it was Ianto, and Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. It felt like his legs turned to jelly, and he was pretty sure he would have collapsed into a drunken heap on the ground if Rose hadn’t held him up. 

Then suddenly he and Ianto were in the center of the room, holding each other like neither of them ever wanted to let go. Jack looked over Ianto’s shoulder at Rose, who had such a soft, fond look on her face. He mouthed ‘thank you’, and she just nodded and smiled. She slipped back into the TARDIS, and Jack watched the machine silently disappear (most likely thanks to Rose somehow being a better pilot than the Doctor had ever been), and then he focused all of his attention on Ianto. He’d long ago accepted that they could never have forever, at least not the same amount of it, but Jack could work with a lifetime. That was ages, really.   
,,,

The room was pretty packed, which was impressive seeing as the TARDIS had made it supposedly big enough for everyone who’d been invited. There were so many familiar faces around the room that Jack made a point of saying hello to, and many others that he’d never met. But he was sure that they had to all be fascinating, because the Doctor only ever took the best. 

Rose and the Doctor had made it into a tradition that they would renew their vows every time the Doctor regenerated, and Rose had been the one to convince the Doctor that their friends should be there each time (Jack knew that the Doctor’s general policy was to always move forward and never look back, but Rose had always been good at convincing him to do what was best, not what was easiest). 

This would be the second time Jack would watch them say their vows (apparently nobody had been invited to their first wedding, and it had been more of an impromptu Vegas thing than an official gathering). Last time, the Doctor had been a grumpy old man, and this time was a blonde woman, but always still the Doctor, and Rose was always still Rose. 

If it had been up to Jack, he would never have chosen to live forever, but if he had died the first time that he was supposed to, he never would have been able to see this. He wouldn’t have been able to see two of his favorite people getting to live happily ever after, and, as the slight squeeze of his hand reminded him, he never would have gotten to live his own happily ever after. 

After the ceremony, everyone mingled around and partied, taking full advantage of the fact that they were in a ship that seemed to be at least vaguely magical (no matter how much the Doctor denied it). After dancing with Ianto until the other man insisted that he needed a breather, Jack made his way through the crowd to find Rose. She was listening with rapt attention as the Doctor talked about plumbing, or something. He reached out to grab Rose’s hand and pulled her onto the dance floor, and she went along with it easily enough. He saw the way the Doctor rolled her eyes, but then turned back to the newest humans and continued explaining why the TARDIS had a superior piping system than a 21st century house on Earth.

Jack twirled Rose around to the beat, and even though she seemed breathless, he knew that the two of them could keep going like that forever if they wanted to (both neither of them wanted to, since they both had someone else they wanted to dance with too). 

The music eventually changed to something slower, and Jack put his hands on Rose’s shoulder and waist so that they could gently sway to the song. Jack tipped his head forward and spoke in a whisper that only the two of them would be able to hear, even in a room full of aliens with all kinds of enhanced senses. “Thank you for always being there for me, and for everything else.”

Rose gave him a lovely little smile. “I should be the one saying that to you.” 

They continued to dance until eventually the Doctor showed up to cut in, and whirled Rose away. The Doctor was quite clumsy in her movements, clearly still adjusting to her new body, but the two blondes looked so disgustingly happy that neither of them were bothered at all by it. 

Determined to beat them out for the happiest couple award, Jack found Ianto and managed to convince him to share another dance (and honestly, the bribe that he offered was going to be just as good for Jack, so it was a win-win in his book).   
,,,

The last time that Jack died, he had lived longer than probably anybody else in the universe, though he hadn’t actually died in a very, very long time. He was surprised when he looked down at saw his body, and there was a convenient mirror nearby that showed him that he looked the same as he had for the vast majority of his life.

Then he looked around again, and it took him a moment to realize that he was in the console room of the TARDIS, since it had been so long since his last visit that he could hardly remember it. And there was Rose, sitting in the jump seat, smiling up at him. She gave a small pat to the space next to her. “Come on, have a seat.”

Jack sank down, and automatically leaned into Rose. “Did I ever tell you how very strange it was to see you on Platform One? I mean, you looked the same as always, but I could tell that you were so young, with no idea of everything that would happen.”

“I can imagine,” she told him with a soft laugh. “Tell me about it now?”

Jack hesitated for a moment. “Are you sure? I mean, I don’t think that I’m supposed to be here. I thought I was finally done.”

Rose gave him a playful shoulder bump. “If there’s one thing that there’s always plenty of, it’s time. Come on, I want to know what you thought about me back then.” When Jack still seemed uncertain, Rose’s eagerness shifted into a more understanding look. “Don’t worry, Jack, nothing’s wrong. I suppose I’m just a bit selfish, and I wanted to see you one last time.”

Then Jack had to give her a tight hug before he pulled away so that he would have enough room to gesticulate wildly as he shared story after story, pleased with himself every time he pulled a laugh out of Rose. They could have been sitting there for a few hours, or for a few years. But no matter how long he gabbed on, Jack never woke up, and it was such a strange thing to him. 

When he’d finally run out of stories (at least ones that Rose had never heard from him before), he let out a small sigh. “Hey, is it weird if I ask… is any of this real? Because you’re here, but you died ages ago, and the Doctor did too. Remember when you told me that even immortal beings have an expiration date?”

Rose shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t see why any of that means this can’t be real. Does it really matter how this works?”

Jack thought about it for a moment, and then he shrugged too. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.” Then he reached out to wrap his arm around Rose’s shoulder so that he could pull her closer. When he spoke again, he stared out across the room instead of looking at Rose. “You’ll stay with me until I go?”

“Of course, Jack. I’m here for as long as you need me.”   
,,,

A Time Lord was frightened as he lay there dying, body preparing to regenerate for the first time. He’d heard many stories from friends and family about what regeneration felt like, but it was still scary to have to deal with it, especially when he was already so old and had never regenerated even once. It wasn’t just the pain that scared him, but also the idea of losing who he was and becoming someone entirely new, entirely different. 

He squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them again, it was mostly because he’d been startled by the sound of laughter. He looked around in confusion, and saw what appeared to be the inside of a TARDIS, though the desktop was very futuristic looking. 

Then he spotted the source of the laughter. A man and a woman sat in front of a television, jostling each other as they played a game that involved racing past each other in tiny little cars. The Time Lord was confused, and he cleared his throat impatiently.

The woman looked back first, and then did a double take. “Oh, hello. What are you doing here?”

The Time Lord frowned, since he really had no idea how to answer that question. Then the man looked at the Time Lord before looking back at his companion. “Do you know this guy? Should I feel jealous that I’m not the only one who’s been touched by you?”

The woman just snorted and rolled her eyes, and then she hopped over the back of the couch so that she could walk over to the Time Lord. “Hello, Doctor. I wasn’t expecting to see you around here, though I suppose I should have.”

The man looked at the Doctor with one eyebrow raised. “That’s the Doctor? What-?”

The woman shook her head as she gave the man a fond look. “You of all people should understand that time has never been a linear, understandable path.”

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sorry, but do I know you?”

The woman grinned. “Not yet, but you will. You have a very long life ahead of you, Doctor, and I promise you that we’ll be here for you the whole way through.”

Then the man laughed. “Oh, this is great. Finally, I get to be the mysterious person.”

“Oh, you don’t call millions of years as the Face of Boe mysterious enough for you? Always talking in riddles and acting like you knew everything-”

“Well I basically did know everything by then-”

The Doctor cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but where are we?”

There was a pause, and then the woman gave him a fond look that seemed out of place considering that they were still strangers. “Don’t you recognize it, Doctor? You’re home.” 

“And I’m not giving up my seat,” the man cut in. “So you better get used to standing while we impart all of our great life wisdom upon you.” He had a gleeful look on his face that really didn’t seem to bode well for the Doctor. “Oh, I am so going to enjoy watching you grow up.”  
,,,

Rose was squished in between Jack and the Doctor on the couch as they watched a movie together. Jack didn’t pay much attention to the screen though, and instead looked at the other two. The Doctor had only permanently come to stay here a little while ago, but already seemed to fit in just fine.

When Rose caught him staring, Jack quickly shifted to look back at the screen, but once Rose was distracted, he looked back at her and the Doctor again. Eternity wasn’t so bad when he didn’t have to spend it alone.


End file.
